


Holidays with the McClains

by sapphire_eyes27



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Baking, Fluff, M/M, Pining, mistletoe kiss, spending christmas eve together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-25
Updated: 2018-12-25
Packaged: 2019-09-27 09:14:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17159303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sapphire_eyes27/pseuds/sapphire_eyes27
Summary: Shiro has no one to spend Christmas Eve with so Lance invites him to spend the night with his family.





	Holidays with the McClains

**Author's Note:**

  * For [veltron](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=veltron).



> This is my secret santa gift to Evan! I hope you like i!

“Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock,” Lance sings softly under his breath as he makes his way down the hallway. “Jingle bells swing and jingle bells ring…”

Despite the fact that it’s so early in the morning, there’s a spring in his step because today is finally Christmas Eve, and Lance gets to celebrate his favorite holiday with his family after years of being away.

It’s not like the paladins aren’t also his family; they always celebrated Christmas in space and even taught Allura and Coran about the holiday and its traditions. But deep down, Lance always missed his mother, father, and siblings.

He thinks about the presents he’s already prepared for everyone and a big smile stretches across his lips at the image of everyone huddling around the Christmas tree to open their gifts.

Lance is so caught up in his thoughts that he runs right into the door that’s suddenly opened. He yelps and doubles over, rubbing at his bruised nose and forehead. They’re definitely going to be red.

“Oh my God, Lance, are you ok?” Shiro’s concerned voice rings around the thankfully empty hallway.

Lance shoots up like he’s been struck with electricity and wills the blush to stop spreading like a wildfire across his cheeks. He gives up when Shiro places a hand on Lance’s shoulder and leans in close with furrowed eyebrows and intense dark eyes.

“I’m so, so sorry!” Shiro apologizes.

Lance gulps and wonders how he can slither out from under Shiro’s hand without being too awkward about it and possibly offending the other man. “It—it’s fine. It was all my fault. I wasn’t paying attention.”

Shiro doesn’t pull away. In fact, he learns in closer, and Lance nearly stops breathing when Shiro brushes his sore forehead with the pad of his thumb. “Looks like it really hurt, huh?” Lance hopes the question is rhetorical because he doesn’t trust himself to speak, especially not when Shiro drags his thumb down Lance’s T-zone to the tip of his nose to caress it. His touch is light as a feather, but it sends a shiver down Lance’s spine.

“We should get you ice for that,” Shiro whispers, and all Lance can do is nod lamely.

The walk to the kitchens is silent but not awkward in the slightest. With Shiro, Lance always feels at ease and although he enjoys their conversations a lot, he cherishes the tender silences just as much.

When they arrive, the kitchens are already bustling with cooks preparing breakfast for everyone. With his charming smile and polite words, Shiro gets some ice wrapped in tissues from one of the helpers. Instead of handing the makeshift icepack to Lance, Shiro puts it against Lance’s forehead himself.

Lance lowers his eyes shyly and again his face feels like it’s on fire despite the cold icepack pressing against it. Lately, Shiro has been taking care of him a lot more than usual. He always sticks around after training to personally look after Lance and see how he’s doing despite his busy schedule. Lance glows from the attention, however, he can’t help but wonder what it means.

At first, he had thought maybe Shiro wanted something from him and was buttering him up. But as soon as the idea had crossed Lance’s mind, he discarded it because Shiro is not that type of person. He’s honest and straightforward and definitely not manipulative. Although Lance had felt relieved, he was still as confused as ever.

“Oh, I almost forgot,” Shiro says, interrupting Lance’s thoughts. “Happy Christmas Eve!”

Lance finally raises his eyes to see Shiro with a soft smile on his face. He can’t look away even if he wanted to.

“Yea—yeah, happy Christmas Eve to you, too,” Lance replied, dazed. Shiro looks at him curiously, and Lance averts his gaze. He clears his throat. “So, are you doing anything tonight?”

“Not really,” Shiro says, moving the makeshift icepack from Lance’s forehead to his nose. “When I was little I used to make gingerbread cookies with my mom to leave out for Santa.” His expression turns to a far-off one as he no doubt reminisces about the past. “Even when I became old enough to realize Santa wasn’t real, I would still make the cookies with my mom. It became like an unspoken tradition. Dad would always try to eat the cookies when they were still hot and burn his tongue.” Shiro ducks his head and chuckles. He discreetly wipes his eye, but Lance still catches the action.

“You must really miss them,” Lance says, heart breaking for Shiro.

“Yeah,” Shiro replies with a sad smile.

“Why don’t you join me and my family tonight then?” Lance suggests. “We’d love to have you over for dinner.”

Shiro looks taken aback at the offer as he lowers the icepack. “Really?”

“Yeah, totally!” Lance assures him. “It’ll be fun! My folks always love having people over.”

“Ok, I’d love to then,” Shiro says with a wide grin.

“Cool!” Lance exclaims, feeling beyond excited. “Just come over at five. You know where our quarters are, right?”

Shiro nods.

Lance’s comm beeps then. He reads the message from Keith and tries not to let the disappointment show on his face at having his conversation with Shiro cut short. 

“I gotta get going,” he tells Shiro.

“Here,” Shiro hands him the icepack. Their fingers brush and Lance shudders. “Make sure to keep icing it throughout the day, ok?”

“Yeah,” Lance says, heart fluttering. “I’ll see you later then.”

“Can’t wait,” Shiro whispers like it’s a promise.

***

To Lance’s relief, his day passes by in the blink of an eye. Before he knows it, it’s five o’clock in the evening and Lance is pacing back and forth in the living room. He doesn’t have to wait long because Shiro’s knocking on the door. He runs to answer it before anyone else from his family can.

“Hey, Shiro!” Lance gives a bright smile which Shiro returns instantly.

“Hey, Lance!” He hands Lance the chocolate bundt cake he’s holding. “Thought I’d bring at least this.”

“Aww, you didn’t have to,” Lance says but takes the cake anyway.

“Shiro, you’re here!” Lance’s mother says and envelopes the large man in a hug. “So glad you could make it!”

Lance hides his snicker in his shoulder at Shiro’s surprised expression and bent stature.

“Wouldn’t have missed it for the world, Mrs. McClain,” Shiro says with a charming smile as he hugs her back.

Lance’s mother waves her hand dismissively when they part. “Please, call me Susan.”

“Alright, Susan,” Shiro chuckles and brings out a bouquet of flowers from behind his back. “These are for you.”

Susan gasps and claps her hands together before taking the bouquet from Shiro. “Oh my, these are absolutely beautiful! Thank you, Shiro!”

Shiro bows his head. “You’re very welcome.”

Lance watches the exchange and feels his heart grow even fonder for Shiro.

“She loves flowers you know,” he tells Shiro after Susan leaves to put the bouquet in a vase.

“Well, I’m I got them then,” Shiro replies.

Lance leads them to the joined kitchen and dining area where almost everyone else tries to sneak in a bite to eat as the cooking reaches completion. They all turn to look when Lance and Shiro enter and greet Shiro like an old friend.

“You already know Veronica,” Lance says gesturing to his bespectacled older sister, who waves at Shiro, before moving on. “And this is my brother, Luis, his wife, Lisa, my other brother, Marco, and sister, Rachel. That’s my grandmother,” he points to an old woman stirring something in the pot, “and my grandfather and dad are napping—I should probably wake them up.”

Just then Lance hears the thunder of two sets of footsteps as his niece and nephew come bounding into the kitchen too.

“Uncle Lance, uncle Lance!” his niece exclaims, jumping into his arms as his nephew grabs onto his pant leg. “Please tell us where you hid the presents! I promise to give you lots of kisses and hugs if you do!”

Lance laughs and lightly pinches his niece’s cheek. “Nice try, but no presents until tomorrow!”

His nephew groans. “Oh, come on!”

Lance ruffles his hair before turning to Shiro. “And this is my niece, Nadia, and nephew, Sylvio. They’re Luis and Lisa’s kids.” He looks at the kids. “And guys this is Shiro.”

“Can we call you Uncle Shiro?” Nadia asks shyly.

Shiro smiles warmly at the two kids. “Sure, I’d love that.”

Nadia and Sylvio share similar grins before storming off to continue their search of the hidden Christmas presents.

“Do you guys need any help?” Shiro asks Lance.

“Nah, I think most of the cooking is pretty much done,” Lance informs him. “Plus, you’re a guest! You’re not supposed to do anything.”

Shiro offers a wounded expression. “Even after all this time…after all we’ve been through…you still consider me just a guest?”

“Wha—what!” Lance sputters. “That’s not what I meant, Shiro!”

“Then at least let me help you set the table,” Shiro says, face returning to normal and dark eyes gleaming under the lights.

Lance eventually relents and the two make back and forth trips between the dining area to the kitchen as they set the large table for everyone.

“Did you cook anything?” Shiro asks.

“No, I, uh, was planning on making something else later instead,” Lance says.

Shiro raises an eyebrow. “Oh? And what is it?”

Lance ducks his head, feeling his face flush. “Gingerbread cookies. Do—do you wanna help me?”

When Shiro doesn’t say anything for a while, Lance get worried and sneaks a peek. The blush deepens because Shiro is looking at Lance with the softest, most loving expression on his face. Lance’s heart somersaults in his chest.

“Of course, I’ll help you,” Shiro says.

Dinner, as is the norm with the McClain family, is a noisy affair. There are at least four different conversations going on at once, but all Lance can focus on is Shiro. Shiro fits in with his family like he’s always belonged. There’s no awkwardness, no strangeness as everyone drags Shiro into their separate conversations. And Shiro does a great job of keeping up with everyone too. He even succeeds in getting Nadia and Sylvio to eat their vegetables, for which Lisa is grateful.

The only mortifying part is when Rachel babbles to Shiro about how much Lance admires him and how he used to have a whole wall in his room dedicated to Shiro in their old house. Lance kicks her under the table, but she swiftly evades it with a smirk. His face is so hot, and he wishes the ground could swallow him whole.

It’s not like Shiro isn’t aware of Lance’s long-standing admiration towards him, but there’s no need for Shiro to know about The Wall.

When dinner is finished, everyone clears the table, and Marco and Rachel load the dishwasher. When they’ve finally left to play charades with everyone else in the living room, Lance turns to Shiro.

“Are you ready to start baking?” he asks.

Shiro smiles. “Yeah. Let’s do it.”

They work well together, even though they almost start a flour throwing fight. When it’s time to cut the dough, Lance brings out all the cookie cutter shapes they own and let’s Shiro pick the shapes he wants.

“My mom and I used to make gingerbread men,” he says. “Then Mom, Dad, and I used to decorate them.”

“So gingerbread men it is,” Lance says and hands Shiro the cookie cutter. “You begin cutting, and I’ll preheat the oven.”

They end up cutting over sixty cookies and carefully put them on the cookie tray to bake. Lance watches the little men turn a rich brown color through the oven door. When they’re ready, they let them cool and work on making the frosting to decorate the gingerbread men.

They tell awful Christmas jokes and exchange many stories about Christmas before they met each other. While Lance is in the middle of telling a particularly embarrassing one, Shiro dips his finger in the bowl of excess frosting and swipes it down Lance’s cheek before Lance can even gather what’s going on.

“Hey!” he exclaims before attacking Shiro with frosting too.

By the time they call a truce, their faces are covered in white frosting. Lance’s stomach and cheeks hurt from how hard he’s laughing when Shiro makes funny faces with the frosting still very much on.

When they clean themselves up and decorate all the cookies (with the help of Nadia and Sylvio too), the two take the plates of cookies to the rest of the family to enjoy in the living room.

“Ahh, they’re finally done!” Marco says. “My stomach was growling from the delicious smell the entire time!”  

Lance wants to tell him about the virtues of patience when Veronica speaks up. 

“Don’t move an inch!”

Lance and Shiro stare at each other in confusion but don’t dare move. Lance sees Veronica’s expression turn diabolical and gulps. She doesn’t say anything and simply points her index finger up.

Lance and Shiro simultaneously look up, and Lance feels like the floor’s been pulled from under him.

Above them, hanging from the doorway, is a mistletoe.

Lance wants to die on the spot.

He knows for a fact that it wasn’t there before, and when he looks back at his family, they’re all wearing identical, knowing smirks.

“You guys got caught under the mistletoe, so you know what that means,” Veronica says.

Lance glares at her before turning to Shiro. “We—we don’t have to do this. It’s silly anyway.”

Shiro’s face doesn’t give anything away as he moves closer to Lance. “I think, in the spirit of Christmas, we should do it.”

Lance feels his knees go weak from those words alone. There’s no way he’ll be able to survive the kiss, especially with his family watching intently too.

Lance can’t bring himself to say no, though, because the greedy part of him really wants to feel Shiro’s lips against his.

Eventually, he gives in and nods. Shiro smiles, moving closer still, and Lance screws his eyes shut. He feels Shiro’s warm breath against his lips and tries to prepare himself as best as possible. Just when he thinks Shiro’s going to kiss him on right on the mouth, he feels a pair of lips gently brush his cheek.

Lance’s eyes snap back open and he stares at Shiro with a flushed face and hammering heart. Shiro is still close to him and his eyes are darker than Lance has ever seen them.

“I should take you out first before I properly kiss you, Shiro says. “And make sure we don’t have an audience.” He winks and straightens his spine.

Lance’s face goes even redder as Shiro’s words ring in his head. He stays frozen in place while Shiro serves everyone the cookies. His family doesn’t stop teasing him the entire night, but it’s all worth it when Shiro looks at him like Lance is his own personal Christmas gift. 

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on:  
> My [tumblr](http://www.rolling-blunder.tumblr.com)  
> My [twitter](https://twitter.com/rollinggblunder)


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